YELLOWAY Motor Services Ltd had emerged from the remnants of Holt Bros (Rochdale) Ltd who had been trading since 1915.

It continued to modernise its fleet, an interesting feature being the number of liveries it used.

One, a Tillings-Steven coach, was painted chocolate brown and burnt sienna. Another, an AEC Regal, was finished in an all-orange livery, while another AEC Regal made its debut in navy and light blue livery with a cream relief.

It was not until 1935 that the company made a return to the orange and cream livery that was to form the basic, and much-loved, colour scheme which it carried for the rest of its days as an independent company.

Following the Road Traffic Act of 1930 the company had been granted a licence to run services from London to the Fylde coast, and from Manchester with feeder services from Rochdale, via Shaw, Oldham and Hollinwood.

Licences were not approved for the section via Blackburn, Accrington and Rossendale, but eventually the directors' persistence paid off and these points were also licensed.

Yelloway was also granted a licence for the Torquay service, much to the annoyance of other bigger companies such as North Western, Red and White and Ribble which offered to buy Yelloway, but terms could not be agreed.

By 1937 Yelloway was taking passengers from West Yorkshire towns to destinations in the south west of England, connecting services being provided by Ripponden and District through Halifax, Sowerby Bridge and Ripponden to Oldham.

The onset of the Second World War led to the cancellation of many services but heavy, post-war traffic led to unparalleled expansion as families sought the pleasure of a trip to the seaside after so many years of war.

But the travel boom presented Yelloway, as it it did other operators, with something of a problem.

They simply couldn't cope with demand. So Yelloway joined a consortium that formed Trans United Ltd, which acted as central purchaser and supplier for its members.

An offshoot was Trans United Coachcraft, set up to build new coach bodies, and another was Trans United Travel Agency Ltd.

But new vehicles were still in short supply and Yelloway had to resort to re-bodying a number of vehicles to improve their appearance.

It wasn't until 1947, two years after the war had ended, that new coaches began to arrive. Also that year Yelloway acquired the Creams (Lancashire) Ltd operation of Brierley Brothers, which was based in Rochdale, along with further tours and excursion route licences and an express route to North Wales from Rochdale and Oldham.

In 1955, Holts of Oldham Ltd was bought, giving Yelloway access to more routes and during the year Yelloway was involved with Ribble, North Western, Standerwick and Lancashire United in setting up the Fylde Coast services pool.

These arrangements enabled a greater utilisation of coaches of pool members and better facilities for passengers.